FORT WORTH, Texas — Christopher T. King, 34, of Fort Worth, Texas, who pleaded guilty in August 2011 to an indictment charging one count of receiving child pornography, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge John McBryde to the maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in federal prison. In addition, King, who has been in federal custody since his arrest in mid-July 2011, was ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release following his release from prison. Today’s announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

According to documents filed in the case, King admitted that he used the Internet to search for child pornography. Images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct were discovered on his computer.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), PSC marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about PSC, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.

The case was investigated by the Fort Worth Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).